Mother Be The Judge (11 page)

"Ok Mike, where was the crack house?" Todd asked.

"You're joking mate, I aint telling you that." Mike laughed. "I'll get fucking killed. It's more than my life is worth."

"Any way we can prove what you're saying Mike? It's important." Todd told him.

"I don't know, there were some other crack heads there, do you know Stupid Billy?"

"The kid that hangs around Barton's Corner?" Todd knew Stupid Billy well; he was a notorious crack head who occasionally hung around a shopping centre in Olinsbury.

"Yeah that's him," confirmed Mike. "He saw me, he can tell you I was there."

Todd pointed out to Mike that alibis from junkies were hardly reliable, but said he would look into them. He had no choice but to bail Mike from the station; suspicion was not enough to keep him locked up. Todd was going to have to find the often elusive Stupid Billy, so he could check Mike's alibi and either prove or disprove what he had said. It appeared to Todd anyhow that Mike was not looking so likely for the killing of Savannah; he just seemed too passionate about her death. The gut instinct which Todd had had initially was now gone.

Todd knew that he also had to check out any other statements that had been made and to go over the background of any parties concerned. Feeling frustrated that he was getting nowhere with the stepfather, he spent some time looking at the mother, Mae. Rather unusually there were no Social Services reports for the family. It seemed as if Mae West and her two children lived uneventful lives. He had heard rumour that Mae was an alcoholic, but this did not seem to have had any detrimental effect on the family as Social Services had never had cause to step in and take control of the care of the children. Mae stated she had been home all night on New Year's Eve and had fallen asleep after the row she had had with Mike. There was nobody other than her eight year old son Andrew to verify her story, but considering Savannah had been so brutally violated, it was clear to Todd that she was not responsible and he couldn't bring himself to believe that Mae knew who had assaulted Savannah or that she may have been party to it; even considering a woman bearing the same name had done just that in the past. The case of Fred and Rose West came to his mind, reinforcing that anything was possible so Todd kept Mae on his suspect list just in case.

The only other person Todd had on his list currently was the person who had found Savannah, Adrian Brown. He was a young lad who lived with his mother around the corner from Savannah. Reports showed that Adrian, who worked in the local Big Value, had volunteered to join in the hunt and had been the one to actually find Savannah's body; carrying her out of the tunnel and into the view of the cameraman who had now made his fortune, selling that very footage to every News channel across the world.

Todd called up Adrian's background on the Police National Computer as it was standard procedure for him to check out everything in cases involving sexual contact with children. He found the report from PC Judd in October 2003 where Adrian had been arrested for sexually assaulting a young girl at his school. Although the case had not been proceeded with, PC Judd had written his opinion in the conclusion of his report. Todd read this now.

'It is my opinion that Adrian Brown is guilty of the sexual assault on Charmaine Sprint. Unfortunately Charmaine suffers from Asperger's Syndrome and was unable to provide police with a statement which would give enough evidence to prove his guilt. The Crown Prosecution Service lawyer decided it was not in the public interest to proceed with a prosecution.'

Todd knew this was a typical occurrence in matters of sexual contact. It was a matter of one word against the other and the victims needed to be very certain of what they were saying and able to stand up to the questioning from a defence barrister who would try their very hardest to discredit them. It was sad but true. Todd could understand why this case had never gone anywhere but thanks to the information being kept he now had a seed of suspicion planted into his inquisitive mind.

How much of a coincidence was it that the person who finds the dead child had previously come to police attention for a sexual assault?

Bearing in mind what he knew about offenders returning to the scene and liking to make contact with the investigation, Todd now realised that Adrian was just as likely a suspect as the stepfather. He decided he would go and visit Adrian Brown and find out just what
he
was up to on New Year's Eve.

-x-

Detective Inspector Todd Turnbull announced his arrival to the customer service desk at Big Value. The female customer service operative's face went from bored to interested in the glimpse of an eye and she was using her best professional persona to assist him. Todd told her he was looking for Adrian Brown and she came out from her desk to direct him to where Adrian was working. Todd was led to the refrigerated store room situated just off the drinks aisle of the store. He followed the service operative's feet as they click clacked their way along the shiny shop floor.

"Adrian, this is Detective Inspector Turnbull, he wants to talk to you." She said into the air around her. A dark haired youth stepped out from the numerous stacks of boxes and stood in front of Todd.

"Thank you very much; I need to speak to Mr Brown in private if that's ok with you?" Todd gave the woman one of his winning smiles and she swooned her way back out of the refrigerated room.

Todd turned to the lad in front of him. He noted that Adrian was not a good looking lad; buck teeth, black fuzzy hair and a big hairy caterpillar stuck above his eyes. Todd felt sorry for him although he envied the peace this must bring the lad. It was quite draining being constantly pursued by women and men alike.

"You are the one who found Savannah West, is that right?" Todd decided to get straight to business; he didn't want to give the lad a chance to think of an answer to his questions.

"Yeah," Adrian replied.

"Ok, I just need to ask you what you were doing on New Year's Eve, between about 9pm and 8am the following morning?" This was the time span Will Turner had given Todd for time of death. The cold and damp had made it more difficult to establish a smaller window of time as cold always slowed the onset of decomposition.

"I was at home." Adrian turned away from Todd and began opening a box on top of one of the stacks. "Why?" he seemed nonchalant, but Todd knew this was often a ruse to hide guilt.

"Well we believe that's the timeframe Savannah may have died in."

"What does that have to do with me?" asked Adrian, "I didn't kill her."

"I'm not saying you did." Appeased Todd, "It's standard procedure to ask these questions of everyone close to the investigation.

"Oh." Adrian shrugged. "Well as I said, I was at home all night."

"Did you go out at all?"

"No."

"Is there anyone who can verify that?" asked Todd.

"My mother, we had a drink, it was New Year's Eve." Adrian continued to open his boxes and remove various cold food items; stacking them on a portable trolley ready to be put out on sale.

"How well did you know Savannah, Adrian?"

Adrian stopped what he was doing and pulled a face which made him seem as though he was considering the question. "What do you mean how well?" Adrian asked.

"Well did you know her to talk to or did you just know her from around the estate?" Todd didn't believe he had asked a difficult question; Adrian still seemed to be contemplating his answer which annoyed Todd.

"Did you know her name?" He asked, deciding he would have to ask leading questions to get the information he wanted.

"Yes."

"Did you ever talk to her?"

"No."

"Never? She only lived around the corner; did she play in the park outside your house?"

"Yeah but she's not my friend. She's only eleven. I'm eighteen, it's not like we would bother talking to each other is it?" said Adrian. He returned once again to unpacking boxes.

-x-

Todd could think of nothing else to ask Adrian at this point so said goodbye and made his way around to Adrian's flat. Not happy with the answers Adrian had given him and still suspicious he may be involved, Todd decided to check on Adrian's story about being at home, with his mother.

He knocked on the front door and it was opened after a short while. Todd once again met the woman who had shaken his hand for an uncomfortably long time at the police station. She was just as ugly as her son, with the same caterpillar eyebrow. He could see why Adrian was so unfortunate in the looks department.

Jocasta looked at DI Turnbull and once again marvelled at how handsome he was. "Hello?" she said.

"Hi, Mrs Brown?"

"It's Miss." Jocasta could feel herself blushing when she said this, realising she wanted to correct him so he knew she was single and available instead of her usual pride at being a single parent.

"Miss Brown, sorry, may I come in?" I just have a few questions about your son."

"Adrian? Why, what has happened? Is he ok?"

"Nothing has happened to Adrian." Todd was confounded that this woman had not made a connection to the police, Adrian and little Savannah. Had she not been aware of the investigation going on, on her very doorstep?

"Adrian found Savannah Miss Brown, he is connected to the investigation and we have to ask the same questions of everyone involved."

"Oh, ok." Jocasta gestured for Todd to come into the hallway and shut the front door. She stood and waited for the questions Todd had to ask her.

"Can you tell me where Adrian was on New Year's Eve?" Todd asked her.

"Oh he was home with me; we were watching the countdown to New Year's and drinking wine. We even sang Auld Lang Syne." She smiled as she remembered.

"And what about New Year's Day, the morning, in particular between midnight and 8 o'clock; can you tell me where he was then?" asked Todd.

Jocasta suddenly had a flashback, the memories of that New Year's morning playing in slow motion in her brain; the sound of the door waking her from her sleep. Adrian coming into the house, his legs wet up to the knee; Adrian, heading straight for the shower and Adrian, washing his clothes; totally out of character. She then flashed back to Adrian touching Savannah's photo on the television screen and Adrian deleting unknown pages from his computer.

"He went to bed about 1 o'clock and then got up about 7ish for his breakfast." She said. "I made him a ham omelette; he likes ham omelettes, especially with mushrooms." She was aware she was wittering but Jocasta carried on until the officer stopped her.

"OK Miss Brown, I understand. Can you be sure he didn't leave the flat?"

"Oh yes, I double lock the door at night. It's very loud and I'm a very light sleeper. I would know if he left the flat."

Todd sighed, he was sure he had been onto something and whilst it was not unheard of for parents to provide their children with false alibis, he had nothing to refute it, so would have to accept it for now. The frustrating thing here was Todd couldn't use any DNA or fingerprint evidence as Adrian had a reasonable explanation for his to be on Savannah's body. Todd said his goodbyes to Jocasta and left for the Coroner's office in the hope Adrian's DNA may be discovered in the samples taken from inside Savannah rather than just on the outside of her body.

-x-

Jocasta shut the door behind the Inspector as he left. She turned her back to the door and leant on it. The flashbacks she had just had, replayed themselves over and over in her head. Was it possible that Adrian, good, sweet and loving Adrian could have been involved in the rape and murder of a young girl?

Jocasta was not a stupid person. She was just a woman who was blinded by her love for her only child. From the day he was born it was her life's ambition to protect Adrian from everything and she had done that unquestioningly in every circumstance Adrian had got himself into. The veil of darkness which came with denial now began to remove itself from her eyes and heart as she realised that two of those circumstances consisted of allegations against Adrian, suggesting he had touched young girls. Jocasta realised that she had just protected Adrian once again from arrest by the police. It was dawning on her now that there was a very definite possibility that Adrian was in some way responsible for the demise of Savannah. Constant images of his wet legs reminded her Savannah was found in a stream. The connection was undeniable.

"Oh... my... god." She said and sank to her knees, imagining what the child must have been thinking when she was raped and how her little face must have been in a rictus of pain and fear. Jocasta felt nausea overcome her; she ran to the toilet and purged her stomach contents into the gleaming white bowl, dirtying the sides of the toilet just as the image of her son committing such a foul act dirtied her imagination.

Jocasta heard the front door open and Adrian come into the flat. She flushed the toilet and went out to meet him, intending on asking him what part he had played in the death of Savannah.

As they met in the corridor the words died in her mouth. She looked at Adrian's beautiful innocent face. At his blue eyes and dark hair and just couldn't believe him possible of such vile acts.

"Hi mum." Adrian smiled at her. "Did the police come and see you? They asked me some weird questions. I think they think I had something to do with it. Can you believe that?" he watched her closely for her reaction.